Eagletarian Blog

Got a word with Mike Vick today at NovaCare before he headed off to the golf course for some bye week relaxation.

One thing I wanted to follow up on was the LaRon Landry hit Vick took in the third quarter of the Washington game, which led to Vick leaving the field briefly, just long enough for Vince Young to throw an interception that could have turned the game around, had the Birds been facing a more capable opponent.

The issue I explored in today's Daily Newswas whether Vick understands the gamble he is taking with the Eagles' season when he seems to seek out contact, rather than sliding or otherwise giving himself up. I didn't get a real reassuring answer there.

The explanation given when Vick left the game was that dirt got up up under his visor and into his eye. Washington linebacker London Fletcher seemed intent on trying to establish that Vick was woozy and therefore concussed, which would have removed Vick from the proceedings the rest of the afternoon, as Fletcher undoubtedly knew.

"It was a little bit of everything," Vick said today. "Some dirt got in my eyes and I had the wind knocked out of me, but I wasn't dinged. That was London Fletcher saying I was dinged. I was trying to get the dirt out of my eyes. It was a minor situation and I was able to come back and was fully focused in the game, made the plays when I needed to make them."

Vick called the hit and the subsequent lobbying "part of the game. it's cool."

To my larger question, Vick first disputed that Reid's goal in instituting more three-step drops was "to not get me hit. I don't think that's correct. We always have three-step drops in our (game plan). Sometimes they just don't show up. It all depends on what the defense shows. We don't let them dictate what we do, but sometimes they do dictate where we need to go with the ball."

Asked if he thinks he can make it through 10 more weeks taking such hits, Vick said: "Yes, I think I can."

What I took away from all this is that Vick is still more worried about proving he can take a hit than he is about avoiding them. That's gutsy of him, but it won't help the 2-4 Eagles win any games if he goes down and out.